Behind the Patches
by CanOfSurprisinglySmellyBeef
Summary: When Astrid discovers a withered book, she and Hiccup set out on a quest for their greatest dream: A female Night Fury. I aim for this to be a quality over quantity story, with as little errors and mistakes as possible. Update pace is slow, about 2-4 weeks between chapters. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**NOTE: I'm BACK!  
**

 **Sorry for that long wait, but I finally found a story subject I'd like to pursue.**

 **Yet again, I'm going to avoid lemons, and stay on the subject of developing character instead.**

 **Apologies about the terribly short description, but there's not much I can say without spoiling this chapter :)**

 **Please leave a review, and let me know if this is better/worse than my Steve and Vanish story.**

 **Enjoy!**

Snowflakes. Intricate, heavenly shards of ice that fall from the grey clouds above. Weightless and worth nothing on their own, yet they can determine life or death of an entire village in mass quantities. They can suffocate, they can freeze, they can bury, the list goes on.

Because of this, our ancestors naturally assumed that the flakes of frost were of divine origin. Sort of like a beautiful curse sent to punish us for disobeying the gods. With time, the assumption became common knowledge, and for the longest time we believed that snowflakes were created by our gods and goddesses. Until we mastered the art of dragon taming. If you can call an oaf throwing fish at a creature until it becomes friends with him mastery, that is.

This sudden breakthrough in companionship and utilities brought forth what I like to call a "Mini-Renaissance", or a "Minaissance" for short. People, with the assistance of loyal dragons, were now able to build faster, harvest quicker, travel faster, and go higher. So naturally, eventually _someone_ was going to take a close look at those clouds during a snowstorm...

The day we discovered that snow wasn't of Odin's creation was very... chaotic, to say the least. Arguments and confusion were filling the streets for a solid three days, and each passing moon brought more heated debates to the table. Many families of faith, upon learning of the true origin of the snow, either fell into a form of depression, or challenged those that discovered it.

Or rather, the _person_ who discovered it. Meaning me. Hiccup.

If you ever want to start a frustratingly meaningless debate, tell someone that their beliefs are incorrect. Because based on my experience, they'll have more fire to spit than a Monstrous Nightmare. Especially if they really do have incorrect beliefs.

I thought that by becoming the village's new leader, I wouldn't have to worry about petty issues anymore. Not only was I incorrect, but the petty issues became even _more_ petty, and they somehow became important. The dream of commanding a group of strong, smiling citizens to do your wishes without countless questions is a lie. I think the only reason why it's perpetuated is to bait unsuspecting youths into pursuing the title. And the longer I lead these people, the more firmly I believe that. If I could ever go back in time, I'd tell my father how sorry I was for telling him that his job was easy.

I've been the clan's leader for the last 6 months, starting from the day that Stoick died during the Great Battle. While I never truly accepted his death, I've learned to cope with it. Actually, I think I took it the best out of every other person in my village. Probably because they were so reliant on his thundering orders, and they now had to obey a twig with a nasally voice.

My mother, despite many requests to do so, denied all chances at achieving any form of authority, other than just being the mother of clan's leader. As of now, she just resides in a cozy cottage a short distance from my quarters, and trains the dragon hatchlings. She states it's because years of guiding hundreds of dragons was enough leadership for her. We all know it's because that her reassuming power would remind her too much of being with Stoick.

Astrid, our new second-in-command, has not only further proven herself to be a robust individual, but she has also continued to be my fiancé. While we have both openly told each other that neither of us were interested in marriage just yet, we both agreed that we had quite the bond, and eagerly awaited our future together.

And Toothless, my best friend and companion, has been going strong and has remained the Alpha of all of the dragons. Together we have grown more resilient and influential over the village, as well as neighboring clans and dens. He has stood by my side, real tail on one side, and mechanical tail on the other. He's actually learned how to fly without my assistance, although quite crudely, and he only does so whenever it is a necessity.

Perhaps one of the only times he had to do so was when I alerted the village of the snowflake dilemma.

After the initial panic, I had to send him off to get Astrid home earlier from her expedition for more fishing pools. There was a noticeable lack of aquatic life, likely due to the tamed dragons, so we had to find a new lake to cast our nets into. I felt rather bad for Toothless, watching him stumble his way into flight, while I dealt with the furious people before me.

The couple hours it took them to return felt like several moonlights, thanks to the tremendous stress I was under, trying to answer every one of the rapid-fire questions being screeched at me. I consider it to be among the worst mistakes of my life telling them of my discovery about the frost.

I resisted the urge to yell "Where have you been?" at the trio when they landed mere feet away from me. I practically knocked out some bystanders trying to push my way through the crowd to get to my saviors.

"Astrid, thank Odin," I wheezed through exhausted breaths, "You have no idea how—"

"Hiccup, as much as I would like to break up this little riot, we've got bigger problems on our hands."

I just stood there, confused as to what she could possibly mean by that. The citizens behind me had suddenly lost their volume, awaiting what she had to say.

"What? Are we under another attack?"

"No, not at all. But we found something. Something huge." Her eyes widened at that last bit.

"A new species?"

"We found this. In some sort of decked out cavern."

She held out a dainty, yet rugged book no bigger than a cantaloupe. The cover was of sheep skin, although it was dyed black with some sort of tar. Etched into the front was a depiction of a dragon head, similar to a Monstrous Nightmare. As I held it in my hands, I didn't see any reason for it to be threatening.

The thought must have been visible on my face.

"Look _inside_ of it."

I carefully turned the leather over to reveal the first page.

And I nearly dropped the book after I saw what stared right back at me.

It was a fairly detailed sketch of a Night Fury, similar in nature to Toothless, but not exactly. Measurements surrounded the drawing, depicting height, length, width, weight, and even smaller details such as the circumference of the head spines. It stated that it was female, and juvenile. Apparently troublesome and mischievous, but very protective of those that she was acquainted with.

And very clearly below it, inscribed in bold letters, were the words:

 ** _Subject #037 (a.k.a. Eclipse)_**

 ** _First Successful Domestication_**


	2. Chapter 2

**NOTE:**

 **Wow, ok. I REALLY dropped the ball here.**

 **I honestly forgot that this story existed for about 4 months. So... Yeah. Huge apology here.**

 **So, hopefully to make up for it, I made this chapter a HUGE one. About 2.5x bigger than the ones I normally write.**

 **Deepest apologies, I promise not to slip up so bad. But knowing me, that will likely be a promise short lived.**

 **Cheers mate, I hope you enjoy.**

 **SECOND NOTE:**

 **By the way, It would be GREATLY appreciated if you could leave a review. Reading reviews for my stories is pretty much 80% of the reason I even right these things. I love me some feedback!**

I resisted the grasp of the bold letters, and turned my eyes towards Astrid. She gave me a wide-eyed nod, with a bit of a smirk to go with it.

I felt my knees buckle under me as the true weight of what this revealed slammed into my mind. Not only was Toothless not the first Night Fury to be tamed, but that also meant that there was a chance that there were more Night Furies out there. At last, a partner for Toothless!

While no one wanted to admit it, there was always a certain sadness in his gaze. Although distant, it was noticeable if you payed attention to it. Likely from the crushing realization that he hadn't seen another of his kind since the day he was brought to our world—Or at least, that was most likely the case. He had managed to come to terms with it, but it was clear that he wished that the opposite was true.

The thought of Toothless finally having a female companion gave me a sudden jolt of motivation.

"Astrid, come with me."

The crowd made noises of confused frustration as she dashed behind me towards our house. Stormfly and Toothless, also perplexed, looked on as they saw their masters run off for seemingly no reason. With a quick glance at one another, they both dismissed our actions and started to wander aimlessly throughout the streets.

I heaved the dense wooden door behind me to a close as Astrid leaped ahead and sat at the table in the center of the room. After placing the book on the massive center table, we began to take a closer look at the physical state of the book.

The sections of the cover were nearly in tatters from years of snowstorms and frost, although the pages inside seemed to be relatively intact. The book was likely decade old, give or take a few years. We delicately skimmed through the other pages, finding that the entire book seemed to be dedicated to weekly reports of the one Night Fury, Eclipse, rather than a collection of them. A tad disappointing at first, but we then realized that it would have to mean that the domestication not only went well, but was relatively permanent.

Each entry had various drawings and sketches of Eclipse in action with trainers, as if to give a better visualization to the scene written down. The entries detailed the progress made with earning her trust and loyalty, often noting that she was proving difficult to work with. Nonetheless, she had learned to accept humans as friendly creatures, while at the same time refusing to obey them as masters.

By the time I had read that bit, I was absolutely bursting with excitement. I hadn't been this happy since I caught Toothless all those months ago.

"Astrid, where did you find that place again?"

She practically read my mind, and it was obvious that she too shared the eagerness of finding another Night Fury.

"I found it a few miles to the right of your mother's old sanctuary. In a cave in the side of a mountain."

"Alright, let's get find it." I subconsciously rubbed my hands in anticipation.

It was safe to say that the crowd had forgotten about the quarrel, and they had already returned to their way of life. However, Toothless and Stormfly had apparently decided to wait out our return with a nap. Toothless had rested his head on top of Stormfly's sideways chest, and had already drifted off to sleep.

A coon escaped Astrid's lips as she took in the adorableness of the heap of scales. It was a little contagious, because a warm smile spread across my own face as a bit of air pushed through my nostrils. We stealthily walked towards the two, before giving them a light pet to wake them up. It was sad to see them rouse from such a cute slumber, but we had some exploring to do.

Within a few minutes we were on our way. We stayed above the clouds as we took in the beauty of the setting sun. Or at least, that's what it looked like from our angle. There was a fair chance that it was already sundown in Burk.

The great fireball was barely over the mountaintops once we arrived, offering a florescent orange look to the peaks of snow. Because of this, the reflecting light proved to be counterproductive in relocating, and we were forced to search for the dreaded cavern for hours. It wasn't until the sun had fallen behind the earth that we had finally located the hollow chamber.

In all honesty, seeing it in person was rather underwhelming. I had expected towering statues and wooden walls surrounding the lip of the cave, forming an intimidating defense. But no, for it was only a dainty, quaint entrance reinforced with iced lumber. After dismounting from Toothless, I surveyed the area around the mouth of the cavern. No footprints, save for a depression in the ice from years of traveling through the cave, or signs of life at all. It was completely abandoned.

That thought only made me want to add a skip to my step, although my self-esteem politely declined.

I set a leather boot on the rigid, frosted cave floor, and waited a moment in anticipation of any traps that might have been activated. Aside from my own breathing, I couldn't hear a peep. Thus I crept deeper inside of it, while Astrid and the Dragons trailed behind.

It only took around 400 feet before we were completely shrouded in darkness. In response, Toothless birthed a dainty, violet flame upon the back of his tongue. In the twilight it would have done very little, but in the depths of the cavern it was practically blinding to look at. So, we traced our eyes along the walls, marveling at the purplish color it splashed on them.

The walls and ceiling were plain, but were covered in frozen water in a round formation, creating a circular shape to it. The pattern was broken roughly every 200 feet with more pine logs as support beams, with an occasional torch mount full of aged coal attached to them. The tunnel appeared to be taking a slight curve upwards, as my calves were starting to complain significantly faster than they should have.

Seemingly around 10 minutes passed in deafening silence, until Astrid finally spoke up.

"Hiccup, I don't mean to tarnish whatever progress we're making here, but I'm sure you realize that I have never made it this far into the cave. In fact, I stopped at around the point where it got too dark to see anything, and that's where I found the book."

The anxiety in her voice told me all I needed to know.

"Astrid, we're going to be fine. I get that venturing into a seemingly endless cave is far from ideal for us, but if it means finding out who wrote this book, it'll be worth it."

"But we have no idea where we are going, and the potential of running into a warlock with a Night Fury on his side is pretty high. And too be frank, I wouldn't want anyone of us to get hurt."

With a mild smirk, I gently turned my head to meet her worried face.

"Astrid, if anyone had taken this path recently, we would have been able to see it on the ground."

"That doesn't mean there isn't a second entrance."

My pace halted, as did the rest of the crew a moment afterwards. I placed my thumb and index finger to my chin, and considered her suggestion for a few moments in silence. The ominous hum of the cave soon filled our ears once more.

"You know, you might have a point there." I stated softly.

With a sudden jolt forward, I returned to pushing forward, although at a much higher rate than before. It didn't take long for Astrid to start questioning my actions.

"Hiccup, where are you going? My point was to go the other way!"

Toothless made a nervous purr of sorts in consent, and flicked his head in the direction that we came from. Stormfly quietly screeched and fluttered her wings to show her unease.

Unfortunately for them, I only pressed on. I could hear Astrid groan before beckoning the dragons to tag along, much to their displeasure. After just a few more minutes, I began to feel a draft coming in from the other side of the tunnel—we were close to the end.

"C'mon gang, we're almost there. I can feel it! Literally."

Toothless, with a long pent-up wish for freedom, barreled ahead of us as fast as his feet would allow him too. An interesting sight at first, but we were quickly met with the realization that our light source was being taken with him.

"T-Toothless, wait up bud!" I cried out at him, my voice echoing down the tunnel.

But apparently, claustrophobia had taken hold of him, for he had darted so far ahead of us to the point where we could barely recognize the indigo flame that emanated from his maw.

"Oh come on…" I muttered to myself.

Watching the glow of the colored light, I made note of how Toothless was going in fairly straight line. Too straight. It was as if the cave had suddenly sanded its insides into a flawless marble, instead of the rippled mess that it was before. I shot out my hand to place it against the side of the tunnel—smooth.

I was barely able to notice the disappearance of Toothless's light as a familiar yelp sounded from ahead.

I simply replicated a word that I shouted often in times of endangerment such as this: "Toothless!"

Stormfly let out a series of panicked caws, before promptly utilizing her tail in order to scoop Astrid onto her back, and doing the same for me. We had to press our necks against Stormfly's saddle in order to avoid having our foreheads pancake against the ceiling. The ride was far from elegant, but it was much faster than running by human foot.

I could pick up on faint, yet distinct moans of pain coming from ahead. Toothless was definitely injured. Could Astrid's speculations have been true? An immediate wave of guilt covered my thoughts, replaced shortly afterwards by anxiety.

"Astrid, get your axe out! This could get messy…"

She shot a look of "I told you so," and reached for her holster. It took me up until now to realize that we weren't shrouded in dark anymore, but rather a gentle moonlight. She unsheathed the battle axe, careful to avoid slicing any of Stormfly's erratically moving body parts—let alone my own.

I peered ahead, and noticed that the end of the tunnel was near feet away from us now. No sign of Toothless. However, maneuvering around Stormfly's large head spines, I was able to see what looked like large metal beams, forming an enormous cage of sorts. It seemed to encapsulate whatever lied ahead of the mouth of the tunnel. Was this an elaborate trap?

"Stormfly, slowdown!" I called ahead at her.

With a moment of hesitation, she obeyed, only to discover that she was too late. In her efforts to slow down, her hefty momentum carried her forward, and caused her to slip right out of the tunnel. The sensation of gravity took hold of us for a moment, before we abruptly stopped with an uncomfortable, meaty thud.

It appeared that Stormfly had taken the blunt of the fall, keeping us perfectly intact. But judging by the way she was chattering, the drop had caught her off guard. And judging by the way that Toothless's muffled cries could be heard below her, it seemed that he had become the landing pad.

Stormfly quickly realized this, and rolled off of him while flicking us off of her back to avoid crushing our comparatively smaller bodies. Toothless quickly inhaled, the relief of being able to stand up straight once more took hold of his face. The pained look that he had once had quickly given away to pure joy. He was out of the cramped, cold tunnel! He displayed this by frolicking in a small circle for a couple moments, tongue clutched to the side of his face with an open smile.

"Um, I'd ask if you're ok, but I take it that you're fine."

With a couple satisfied grunts and a nod, he confirmed this for me. I stood up and brushed myself off, and began to take in the area.

And I think I haven't been more overjoyed and terrified at the same time up until that point.

The area was about 10 feet lower than the opening of the tunnel, but was smoothed out in a vast circular fashion. It had to have extended in around 300-400 feet in every direction, it was absolutely enormous! The floor was littered with smashed bookshelves, burnt books, various decrepit furniture items, metallic dishes and utensils, and a collection of clothing items. Several marks of char and flame tainted the otherwise elegant marble. I saw a few pieces of food as well, but they had long since given into the rot.

But what had truly caught my eye was what waited for me in the far left ice covered corner of the area. There was a platform of slate, much like the one that Toothless sleeps on at home, with a clunky, dense chain attached to a stump of wood attached to it. A couple of shackles lied next to it, but they had been forcefully detached and ripped open. One of the shackles was roughly the width of Toothless's neck, and was branded with a number: **037.**

I was practically bouncing with excitement. The Night Fury had lived here once!

I then remembered the purpose of a chain and shackle.

My heart sank when I realized that whoever had caught the juvenile Night Fury either had little intent on making it her friend, or was incapable of doing so. And judging by how the book frequently commented on her resistance to gestures of friendship, I opted for the second option. I turned to Astrid, who was busy staring in awe at something above us.

"Astrid… What are you looking at?" I inquired.

She slowly pointed high above her head, and beckoned my eyes to follow it. Confused, I did so, and was met with a familiar gargantuan curved steel beam. Only this time, it sat beside and crossed with many other steel beams, forming what was essentially a metallic bubble.

"How on earth could you even build something like this? Our training center on Berk isn't even a portion of this size!" Astrid commented, with a certain breathlessness in her speech.

"I don't know. But whoever it was, there had to be more than one of them." I replied, stating the obvious.

A thundering, downcast growl entered my ears. I swirled to meet Toothless, who was staring intently at a limp object on the ground. I found it a tad ridiculous, but I comforted him anyway.

"Toothless, it's fine, it's just a—"

I stopped mid sentence as I got a good look at what it was. It appeared to be a small sack of some sort, stitched together from dozens of differently colored and shaped pieces of fabric. There were two round holes in the front, which would have lined up perfectly with someone's face. These were accompanied by a wide slit below them, creating a look of indifference to the mask. The patchwork was rather rough, but it was well done considering the lack of open seams in the worn out hood.

But what alarmed me the most was the color that it was. A few areas of it showed its true colors, but in most others, it was painted in aged, deoxidized, blood. It was as if someone had dipped it into a vat of fresh organs, and had laid it out on the floor to dry. Whoever was wearing it last had suffered a surely fatal injury, judging by the thick layering of the blood.

One last little detail I managed to notice was a dainty, barely visible text at the bottom of the sack. There, in smudged letters, it read: **Patches.**


	3. Chapter 3

**NOTE:**

 **Hooray, next chapter's here!**

 **I'm going to start making these things longer, as I think just two pages in Microsoft Word is getting kinda small.**

 **Anyway, please leave a review when you finish it, whether it's positive or negative (I can take it :P), and let me know how I can improve.**

 **And as always, reading reviews is probably the best part about making these stories!**

 **See you next time!**

"Patches…" I whispered to myself.

"What did you say?" Astrid inquired while advancing towards me.

"Patches. Astrid, flip to the first page of the book, and tell me if there is a mentioning of an author anywhere!"

Cleary confused, she complied and parted the ends of the tattered book. She traced her index finger down the encrusted page, trying to decipher the ink that lay upon it. Stormfly waddled beside her, and peered at the small book in curiosity.

After a few moments of silence, she stated, "Ok, it doesn't explicitly state it, but whoever wrote this refers to himself as 'Patches'."

"Well, Patches here is more than likely dead." I tossed her the limp cloth, which she managed to catch with just one hand while the other secured the book.

Studying the dried blood and sewing work, she said, "Well, I'd say you're right. There's no puncture holes or unintentional slices in it, so it had to have been an impact of some sort. And to procure this much blood, it had to have been devastating. Unless it's someone else's, which I'm sure that we both doubt."

I nodded, and gazed at the steel beams high above us. The spaces between them were just wide enough for a human to fit through, but far from adequate for a Night Fury. They appeared to be covered in snowy foliage, which simulated a natural camouflage. That explained how we were unable to see this place from above. I decided to try to judge how high above the ground we were using my trusty sextant, so I searched for the position of the moon.

I mistakenly traced my eyes towards the gaping hole in the top of the cage.

It was clearly blown apart by force, likely from a dragon's doing. No question about it, this was how the Night Fury was able to escape. The torn pieces of metal folded outwards towards the sky, creating a spike formation around the opening, as well as a creepy feeling when stared at. Nonetheless, it suggested that the breach was from inside of the cage. However, the steel beams were much too thick for a single Night Fury to breach, and would have required a much greater explosion in order to effectively damage.

Astrid had apparently noticed what have captivated my mind.

"Whoa. That's a nice hole."

The immature side of me showed itself for a few snickers, before a sharp glance from Astrid sent it fleeing back into my subconscious.

"Whatever blasted that must have been much larger than a Night Fury. Problem is, if that tunnel was the only entrance before that was created, how could a creature of that stature make its way into here?" I asked as I used my sextant as a makeshift telescope to further inspect the gargantuan beams.

"Could it have been several smaller creatures?" She responded.

"Impossible. A steel beam of this magnitude would need a discharge much greater than anything a group of Terrible Terrors could produce."

"Maybe it was done by an enemy tribe? Like a break in through the tunnel with their own dragons, and then using them to plant some gunpowder barrels on the inside of the beams?"

A few moments of silence and thought overcame us, as we considered the possibility of a raid.

"Definitely possible, although I don't think a few barrels of gunpowder would have been enough. They would have needed half a cargo ship's worth. Besides, why would they want to free the Night Fury?" I replied.

"Probably so they could capture it as their own. I don't think any peaceful tribe would just have piles of explosives lying around. If I were a bloodthirsty tribe, a defenseless Night Fury would sound like a great opportunity to add to the arsenal."

"Fair point. But even then, why would they waste resources creating a small cataclysm and risking their lives instead of just leading the Night Fury back through the tunnel?"

Astrid looked down at the ground for a few moments in thought, before answering, "I don't know."

Silence soon fell upon us again, aside from the light play that Stormfly and Toothless were having together. The excited pattering of their feet and flaps of their wings filled our eardrums, as we attempted to come up with a plan.

"We could try to track down the Night Fury! Or, uh…" Astrid flipped open the book before continuing, "Eclipse!"

I suddenly realized what an oaf I had been. Of course, we needed to track down the Night Fury! Just after making a mental note to start referring to the dragon as Eclipse, I wholeheartedly agreed with Astrid, and we mounted our dragons.

"Where to first?" Astrid called to me as we carefully glided upwards through the breach in the steel.

I replied, "I think our best bet would be to take a peek at the last few pages in the book, and see how she was behaving before she escaped. Maybe her body language could point us there!"

We hovered above the camouflaged bubble, as I navigated through the pages within the decrepit book. They stopped about 50 entries in, and appeared to be spaced by a week between them. Eclipse had been trapped in here for a year?

On the last page there was yet another diagram, just as all the others had, but it was of a rather depressed looking Night Fury in the familiar shackles. Oddly enough, it appeared to be shivering, and surrounded by snow. The fact that someone would take the time to draw in the disparity of their prisoner seemed a tad morbid to me, but I tried to ignore the drawing. I focused my gaze on the faded text, and read throughout the lengthily paragraph with intent.

 _Week 56, Mid-December. Snow is falling in much heavier than usual, and it keeps covering our floor. Eclipse is extremely moody, and often depressed. Around every hour or so she attempts to take flight in the direction opposite of the left-most wall, only to be halted by the chain. Reason for this unknown. Refuses to eat, avoids all forms of attention, usually curled up on platform and hiding her face in her wings. We've tried to keep her warm, but she bats away any sources of heat, almost set the place on fire twice by accident. Particularly upset with me. Will try to reconnect later._

"Does it say anything about where she was trying to go?" Astrid's impatience was starting to show itself in her voice.

Attempting to give her my best answer, I stated, "Well, uh, it says that she was trying to fly opposite of the left-most wall…"

I ducked my head and peered below Toothless, and gauged which direction that would be.

"Which is that way, I think…"

"Alright, let's ride!" Astrid exclaimed, while proceeding to lurch Stormfly into full speed.

Toothless quickly darted after the two, as I clicked my prosthetic ankle into the correct position. For around 2 hours, we surveyed the area, steadily making progress in the direction the book suggested. It was around midnight when we found something of worth.

Another mountain in the snow harboring a cavern, only the hollow fortress of stone was much wider and much deeper. We were immediately aware of this when we heard the echoes of our dragon's feet return from the depths. What made the cavern stand out was the collection of damaged trees and shrubbery, most of which were now rotted due to the cold. Several claw and scorch marks we laid upon the walls of stone, as well as a couple of blood stains. Recent ones.

A few chills ran down my spine as I remembered how treacherous the journey down would be. The tunnel proved to be monotonously long, how deep would this one go? Nevertheless, we had to press on. I cautiously began to walk into the beckoning darkness, as Astrid's complaints followed from behind. Once again, she had to simply put up with my stubborn quest. It didn't take long for the sound of large dragon feet to start moving behind her as well.

Cool air began to envelope me, as I noticed that the walls were not formed from ice as the previous tunnel. No, for they were just a rigid slate this time. The cavern was rather moist feeling, and dripping water could be heard farther down. Stalactites and stalagmites littered the corners of the echoing chamber, and aside from the droplets of water, nothing could be heard.

I happened to catch a sight of what appeared to be a weapon of some sort off to the right. Though difficult to distinguish in the dark, it was certainly a sword of sorts. Perhaps it was a relic of someone's legacy? I slowly moved towards it, with my hands out to the front of me to prevent bumping into anything. It suddenly occurred to me that Toothless could light our way, and make navigation a lot safer.

I would have called for his assistance, but I don't think he would have heard me for the sound of stone giving away beneath my feet.

"Hiccup" was the last thing I heard before I plummeted through the ground and into the unknown. My panicked yells filled my own ears, as well as the sound of years of still air being disturbed by my flailing presence. It felt like entire minutes passed before I broke the surface of deep water. I quickly shook off my fears, and made a mad swim to the surface.

Fresh, sweet oxygen filled my lungs the moment I made it above the water. I treaded my way towards the shallower area, and found myself standing on yet more stone. Only this time, I was freezing and sopping wet.

I didn't have Toothless with me to light up the area, so I fumbled through my satchel to find the next best thing: A small, yet efficient tallow candle. I personally found candles to be of great use, mostly because they were compact and quite durable. They also provided an emergency source of wax, should the moment require it.

Once again, being separated from Toothless meant that I didn't have a source of flame, so I would have to light the candle myself. I protruded a chunk of steel and a frail piece of flint from the same pack, and placed the candle on the ground. Although they were moist, they should still function. In the overwhelming darkness, the sparks were equivalent to torches.

It took several minutes to light the candle, but eventually the wick managed to catch hold of a spark, and slowly turned to dainty, yet brilliant flames. I righted myself off of the ground, replacing the flint and steel into my pack while holding the rectangular wax block in my left hand. The orange flame splashed against the walls, revealing that this corridor was relatively flat. What appeared to be scratch marks were scattered around them, in groups of 3.

But the pile of fish bones was what caused fear to kick in. Hundreds upon hundreds of sharp, skinny bones formed a heap to the right of me, casually resting against the wall. They were remarkably clean, as if someone had taken the time to wash them off in order to keep them from smelling. I inspected the bones at the top of the pile, and my growing suspicions were correct: They were still fresh in color, and thus recently eaten.

Something lives down here.

As if on queue, a deep, thundering growl sounded from behind me. It practically froze me in place, and my entire body turned cold. I could feel my gut instinct demanding that I should turn around, while my brain screamed that I needed to turn and run.

But, due to me having a pool of water on my right, and the creature behind me to my left, that wasn't really an option. Thus, I cautiously turned my upper body to meet what had caused the noise face to face. I could only stare in awe and terror as I managed to put the dragon in focus.

Piercing violet eyes stared back.


	4. Announcement

**Hey everyone, I've got an announcement to make.**

 **I know that none of you probably remember this story, but I regret to inform you that I've grown tired of it.**

 **It's just not the same spark I felt as when I first wrote it, and it is quite tiresome to write.**

 **So, I'm just going to put this one down. I know the "ending" isn't really an ending, but I can't be bothered to write another chapter.**

 **I aimed much to high with this story, I'll try to keep them shorter.**

 **However, I do have a bit of an idea of what I should do next.**

 **It may or may not have to do with pokemon.**

 **And it may or may not have to do with a few lemons ;)**


End file.
